Tracker

Surely you josh. And I am not calling you Josh.

I still hold to the opinion that they ought to have changed the Eskimos' name to "The Edmonton Ungulates". Sounds classy.

I would not expect too much protests or support from the Russian public- a poll that I saw on CNN last week indicated that about 60% supported Putin.

The Korean manufacturers seem to be racing to go all-EV first., so you may want to keep an eye on them.

The province has stopped the PCR lab tests. If what the doctor said is true, and I do not doubt it, the rapid Antigen tests are almost useless. As our premier said a month ago, we're on our own.

Got some really disturbing news today. My wife saw her doctor and commented that when she (my wife) went to Emergency at Seven Oaks with a medical emergency, the hospital did not check her for COVID symptoms apart from asking her if she was ill. Her doctor said that doctors and hospitals have been instructed by the Health Ministry to no longer do or recommend COVID testing on patients as the province was no longer doing the PCR testing due to expense as of some three weeks ago. . The doctor also advised her that the rapid tests are no more than 50% accurate, so you would be just as accurate to flip a coin to see if you have COVID or any of the variants. The provincial PCs are doing their thing once again and, as an added insult, the Free Press reported last week that Heather Stefanson stated that when she was minister of health, she was not aware of patients being shipped out province and there was no need for it, as there was adequate room in the existing CCU's.

The grift never ends, and the fools keep anteing up.

Reacher was filmed with Lee Child as a co-producer and he did so to make sure that the lead actor embodied the size and threatening presence of Jack Reacher as written in the books. The actor portraying Reacher was not quite as big as the books described (6'2" vs 6"4") but carried the role very well.

FYI: Bandera was not a Nazi, but he did cooperate with the Nazi invasion to drive out the Russians during the early days of WW2 to try to gain Ukrainian independence from Russia. When the Nazis turned on the Ukrainian partisans, he fought them as well, and again against the Russians when they returned to Ukraine. The Russians mounted a major disinformation campaign to vilify him and paint him as an absolute Nazi. I believe the KGB assassinated him in Vienna after the war.

To make a horrid situation worse, an intra-vaginal ultrasound is an option for the attending physician. I wonder how those doctors feel about violating their Hippocratic oath.

And, as has been posted here before, the Anti-vaxxers and pseudo-truckers are really pissed that they are no longer in the limelight.

This makes me wonder how much funding Putin's people funneled into the "trucker" protests as a way of destabilizing Canadian governments and sowing discord, much as they have (with Trump's participation) done in the US.

The Gulf oil spill, miscarriage, and infertility: The GROWH Study Emily W. Harville,1,* Arti Shankar,2 Leah Zilversmit,1 and Pierre Buekens1 Purpose: To examine whether reported exposure to the Gulf oil spill (2010) was related to reproductive reported miscarriage or infertility. Methods 1524 women aged 18–45 recruited through prenatal and Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics, and community events were interviewed about their experience of the oil spill and reproductive history. 1434 women had information on outcomes of at least one pregnancy, and 633 on a pregnancy both before and after the spill. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between contact with oil and economic and social consequences of the spill with postponement of pregnancy, miscarriage, and infertility (time to pregnancy >12 months or reported fertility issues), with adjustment for age, race, BMI, smoking, and socioeconomic status. Results were compared for pregnancies occurring prior to and after the oil spill. Results 77 (5.1%) women reported postponing pregnancy due to the oil spill, which was more common in those with high contact with oil or overall high exposure (aOR 2.92, 95% CI 1.31–6.51). An increased risk of miscarriage was found with any exposure to the oil spill (aOR, 1.54, 95% CI 1.17–2.02). Fertility issues were more common in the overall most highly exposed women (aOR 1.88, 1.19–2.95), when the data were limited to those with pregnancies before and after. However, no particular aspect of oil spill exposure was strongly associated with the outcomes, and effects were almost as strong for pregnancies prior to the oil spill. Conclusions The oil spill appears to have affected reproductive decision-making. The evidence is not strong that exposure to the oil spill was associated with miscarriage or infertility.

Cooccurrence does not mean causality. There are excellent studies linking excessive or acute stress to decreased testosterone and sperm viability. Women living with constant stress or acute stressors will often experience amenorrhea, which will mean zero fertility. There may be a link between petrochemical usage and reduced fertility but I am not aware of any such.

National Cancer Institute: This New Drug Turns Cancer’s Secret Addiction Against Itself While the cells making up the tissues and organs in your body are pretty neighborly, cancer is the person who parks in your parking spot and plants a fence crossing your side of the backyard. Over the last several decades, scientists have discovered ways to exploit and undercut cancer’s selfishness in order to treat those who are suffering. And now they’ve found a new way to punch cancer right in its greedy gut by turning these mutated cells’ addiction to certain elements against them. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on Wednesday, a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found certain cancer cells harbor a mutation in a gene called KRAS, allowing them to hoard large amounts of iron. The UCSF team took advantage of this iron addiction to develop a novel anti-cancer treatment that can specifically hone in and target certain types of cancer—while sidestepping the infamously debilitating and toxic effects of chemotherapy and similar treatments. “This is a really great, well thought out approach for targeting cancer cells specifically and it’s actually really promising,” Dr. Hossein Ardehali, a cardiologist at Northwestern University who was not involved with the new study but whose lab is researching the relationship between cancer and iron, told The Daily Beast.

Stephanie Grisham Reveals Chilling Reason Donald Trump Admired Vladimir Putin Donald Trump both admired and feared Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to former Trump White House communications director Stephanie Grisham. “Honestly, I think he feared him. I think he was afraid of him. I think the man intimidated him,” Grisham said on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The View.” “I also think he admired him greatly. I think he wanted to be able to kill whoever spoke out against him,” she continued, adding Trump “loved the dictators” and “the people who could kill anyone, including the press.” Grisham, now working to prevent Trump from taking office again in 2024, also suggested how her former boss would have responded had America been invaded as Ukraine has been by Russia. “Donald Trump would be 57 feet below ground hiding,” she said, praising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “out there fighting for his country, and I just think that’s great.” And were he still president, Trump would have had a “completely hands-off approach” to Putin’s military aggression, she said. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephanie-grisham-trump-putin-admired_n_6228611fe4b004a43c11c762

Simple minds demand simple explanations, even if those explanations are wrong.

The environmental impact on fertility may be part of it, but I suspect that the economic distress (stagnated wages but rising living costs) and the attendant loss of confidence in the future have a lot more to do with it. Stress diminishes libido and sperm motility and production. The American middle class is being squeezed out of existence while the rich get richer. This is unsustainable but the upper class is oblivious and focused only on immediate gain.

I think you are underestimating the crassness and stupidity of this GOP candidate.

Russian Officer Complains About Dead General and Comms Meltdown in Intercepted Call -Reuters The Ukrainian defense ministry has released audio from a call that it claims captured two Russian officers lamenting the death of a top general and the collapse of its secure communications network in Ukraine. In the call—which has been verified by Bellingcat, the fact-checking group known for exposing Kremlin misinformation—two purported Russian FSB officers are heard discussing the death of a general killed in fighting near Kharkiv, which has been hammered by shelling this month. Ukraine’s defense ministry named the general as Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, and Bellingcat reported that it had confirmed the death with Russian sources. In its statement, Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said Gerasimov had been “liquidated” alongside “a number of senior Russian army officers” in fighting near Kharkiv. If Gerasimov’s death is confirmed, he would be the second Russian general to be killed in Ukraine within a week following the death of the 41st Army’s deputy commander, Andrei Sukhovetsky. A pro-Putin Chechnyan general, Magomed Tushayev, was also reported to have been killed. Russia’s failure to protect its top-ranking officers backs up reports from Ukraine that the Kremlin’s invasion force is in disarray. On the call released by the Ukrainian defense ministry, one FSB officer can be heard complaining that its encrypted comms system had been destroyed, allowing Ukrainian forces to listen in on Russian military orders. Bellingcat’s executive director, Christo Grozev, wrote, “In the phone call in which the FSB officer assigned to the 41st Army reports the death to his boss in Tula, he says they’ve lost all secure communications. Thus the phone call using a local sim card. Thus the intercept."

Michigan GOP Candidate Tells Daughters 'If Rape Is Inevitable, Lie Back And Enjoy It' A GOP candidate running for Michigan’s House of Representatives said during a Facebook Live broadcast that he tells his daughters to “lie back and enjoy” rape if it’s “inevitable.” Robert “RJ” Regan, who won the GOP special primary in the state’s 74th district last week, was discussing how to decertify the 2020 presidential election during a Facebook Live broadcast for the Republican group Rescue Michigan Coalition on Sunday when he made the comment. “Having three daughters, I tell my daughters, ‘Well, if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it,’” Regan said roughly 10 minutes into the broadcast. “That’s not how we roll, that’s not how we won this election.” “That was a shameful comment,” attendee Amber Harris said in response. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michigan-gop-candidate-rape-lie-back-and-enjoy-it_n_62278e85e4b004a43c1086bc

Jan. 6 rioter found guilty on 5 federal charges A jury in Washington, D.C. has found Capitol rioter and Texas resident Guy Reffitt guilty on five federal charges for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, including obstruction of an official proceeding, transporting weapons into the District of Columbia, interfering with the Capitol Police, and bringing a Smith & Wesson handgun to the Capitol grounds. According to CNN, the jury also found Reffitt guilty of obstruction of justice for threatening his son and daughter after returning to Texas following the Capitol riot. The 12 jurors, who included six men and six women, deliberated for less than four hours on Tuesday, March 8 before finding Reffitt guilty on all five of the federal charges he was facing. The January 6, 2021 insurrection has resulted in a long list of federal prosecutions — some on felony charges, some on misdemeanor charges. Business Insider’s C. Ryan Barber reports, “Reffitt's trial presented an opportunity for the Justice Department to secure a conviction that would send a message to other accused Capitol rioters planning to go before a jury rather than plead guilty. For prosecutors, a loss in court could have sent the opposite message — and emboldened accused Capitol rioters. But federal prosecutors never seemed in doubt about the outcome.”

Germany today- prices are in Euros per litre.